Expressed truncated N-terminal variable surface glycoprotein (VSG) of Trypanosoma evansi in E. coli exhibits immuno-reactivity.

The variant surface glycoprotein (VSG) of trypanosome is an important part of its body surface coat, which is expressed in early, middle and late stages of infection contributing a major diagnostic value. In the present study, the 5' end of the partial VSG gene sequences (681 bp) encoding N-terminal protein of RoTat 1.2 VSG (227 amino acid) was amplified, cloned into pET32a vector, and expressed in prokaryotic system. The fused His-tagged expressed VSG protein (43 kDa) of the Trypanosoma evansi was characterized in SDS-PAGE and immunoblotting using hyperimmune/immune sera raised against buffalo, dog, lion and leopard isolates of T. evansi. The expressed protein remained immunoreactive with all the sera combinations. The animals immunized with whole cell lysate or recombinant protein showed similar antibody reactions in ELISA and CATT (Card Agglutination Test for Trypanosomiasis). This study suggests the expressed recombinant truncated VSG is having its importance for its possible use in sero-diagnosis of surra.